What is actually on offer

The vocational route is a set of shorter, more specific qualifications that train you for defined work: industrial training institutes, polytechnic diplomas, and apprenticeships that pay while you learn. They are shorter than a degree, cost considerably less, and end closer to employment than most general degrees do.

They are also the least-explained option in Indian education. A family that has heard of three engineering colleges has usually heard of no polytechnics, which means the comparison is never actually made — the route is dismissed before anyone has looked at what it leads to.